Wire chain.



Patented July 4, I899.

F. w. SMITH, 1R.

WIRE CHAIN Application filed Apr, 3, 1897.)

(No Model.)

Inuerdor' ju'ew 1 a? 2 @za UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRIEND W. SMITH, JR, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE SMITH8: EGGE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

WIRE CHAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 628,189, dated July4,1899.

Application filed April 3, 1897. Serial No. 630,494. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRIEND W. SMITH, J r., a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of-Bridgeport, in the county of Fail-field andState of Connecticut, have'invented certain new and useful In]provements'in Wire Chains, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to wire chains and the links of which the same areformed; and it [0 consists of certain novel parts and combinations ofparts particularly pointed'out in the claims concluding thisspecification.

In the accompanying drawingslhave shown myinvention applied in the formswhich are at present preferred by me; but it ,will be understood thatvarious modifications and changes may be made without departing from thespirit of my invention and without exceeding the scope of my claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a rear view of a chainembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side View of the same, and Fig. 3 afront view thereof. Fig. 4 shows a slight modification of the structureshown in the other figures.

The following is a description of the links and chains illustrated inthe accompanying drawings. v 7

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, it will be seen that each link iscomposed of a loop I) and eyes 0 c, the loop and eyes being formed of asingle piece of wire. This loop may be of any desired form. In Figs. 1,2, and 3 it is shown as being substantially elliptical in ,5 shape,while in Fig. 4 the sides of the how are more nearly straight. In bothcases the side wires of the loop at the eye end converge.

The wires forming the eyes pass, substantially.

parallel to each other, back to the loop and pass through it at thatportion thereof where,

as above described, the side wires of the loop converge. The ends arethen bent outwardl'y around the side wires of the loop in the form ofhooks. In Fig. 3 the extreme ends of the wires are in contact with theside wires, say, about two hundred and forty degrees, whereas in Fig. 4the ends are in contact with the side wires perhaps one hundred andeighty degrees. This difference in degree, however, is immaterial, theessential point being that in both cases the ends of the wire afterforming the eyes pass inside of the converging wires of the. loop andare then hooked around the sides thereof. The length of these ends andthe degree to which they are in contact with the side wires and thedisposition of the hooks will vary in practice, depending to some extentupon the gage'of wire employed and the size of the links.

The essential feature of a link constructed as described is the passingof the wires forming the eyes first inside the loop between itsconverging sides before the ends are hooked around the side wires, theresult being'that when tensile strain is applied the converging sideWires of the loop pinchthe eye-wires together and resist the tendency ofthese wires under such conditions to uncurl.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Pat 7o ent, is-- 1. A chain, the links of which are eachcomposed of wire bent to form a loop and eyes, the extreme ends of thewire after forming the eyes passing directly to the inside of the loopand thence bent outwardly to hook about the sides thereof.

I 2. A link for chains composed of wire bent to form a loop and eyes,the extreme ends of the wire aft-er forming the eyes passing directly tothe inside of the loop and thence bent outwardly to hook about the sidesthereof.

, FRIEND W. SMITH, JR. Witnesses: I

M. WILsoN,

O. J. RATHJEN.

